On May 31, 2022, Marie Therese Provot, 95, died peacefully at Maple Lawn Medical Care Facility surrounded by her loving family. Therese was the beloved matriarch of a large family that included her eleven children, thirty-six grandchildren, sixty-one great grandchildren (with two more on the way) and seven great-great grandchildren.
She was born Marie Therese LeBlanc on September 25, 1926 in Rogersville, New Brunswick, Canada to Edmond and Angelina (Chiasson) LeBlanc. She moved to the United States at the age of 15, to live with a family and participate in the great adventure they offered. She lived in Royal Oak, where she learned to speak English by taking night classes, and finally was able to attend Royal Oak High School, where she proudly graduated in 1947. She met the love of her life, Alvin F. Provot, at a Halloween party, and they were married at The Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak in 1948. They were married almost sixty years at the time of his death in 2004.
Therese was a master seamstress, sewing hundreds of creations from wedding dresses to costumes, and everything in between. Her favorite projects were designing and making matching dresses for herself and all her daughters for Mother-Daughter events. She would feign genuine surprise when she consistently took home the “most daughters” prize.
Therese never met a need she couldn’t turn into a project, and most had to be done behind her husband’s back so he wouldn’t try to help. There were times she could be found climbing around on top of the three-story family home in Bad Axe patching leaks, or inventing a new way to solve a problem related to bathroom plumbing or kitchen glitches. She was MacGyver before there was MacGyver.
For most of her children’s young lives, she was a busy homemaker, trying to manage the chaos of eleven children and all their friends coming and going. But what a good sport she was about it all. She was famous for her pancakes that she made the size of the plate, and she had a steady line of kids every morning waiting for them to come off the griddle, one at a time.
She worked at the Sears catalog store in Bad Axe for a time, and in the office of her husband’s metal fabricating plant, Martin Machinery. In 1981, she and Al moved to Madison Heights, where she worked as a nanny for the family of Bill and the Honorable Nancy G. Edmunds. And in 1986, in an effort to be closer to many of their children who had migrated to Branch County, they moved to Coldwater and opened the Provot Group Daycare Home, where she was able to help raise another generation of young people. She worked alongside Al at the Deacon Al Provot Food Pantry for many years, and was a member of the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. In 1999, she and Al were presented with the Branch County Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Award for their work with the food pantry.
Therese loved to play golf and she loved her grandchildren. So, it was natural that she took many of them along with her and taught them to love the game as well. She liked to say they played with her until they played better than she did, then she moved on to a younger grandchild. The most enduring memory for all those kids is the pain and effort it took to keep up with her while they walked the entire 18 holes. She also loved to play cards, bridge and euchre especially, even giving bridge lessons to a few older grandchildren.
Anyone who ever met her knew she was most proud of her eleven children. Her heart was broken when she outlived her beloved daughter, Kathy, in 2015. She is survived by her children Michael (Barbara) Provot of Canton; Marie (Keith) Lippincott of Winter Haven, FL; Patrick (Donna) Provot of Mentor, OH;
Philip (Theresa) Provot of Frankfort, IN; Christine (Scott) McMillin of Sturgis, Helyn (John) Castle, Susan (Joe) Sobeske, Karen (Jim) Sobeske, all of Coldwater; Marguerite (Joe) Duke of Bronson, and Judy (Rob) Brombach of Almont, and one sister, Florine Mazerolle of Acadieville.
In addition to her husband and daughter, she was preceded in death by her parents, her grandson, Matthew Thomas; granddaughter, Keri Lippincott; and her siblings, Marguerite Goghen, Andre LeBlanc, Placid LeBlanc, Patrice (later named Father Emile), Alexandre Le Blanc, Gerard (later named Father Guy), Germaine Allain, Jeanne D’Arc Arsenault, Emile LeBlanc and Victorien LeBlanc.
Visitation will take place on Sunday, June 5 from 4-7 pm at Dutcher Funeral Home in Coldwater, with a Rosary beginning at 6:30 pm. Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Monday, June 6, at 11:00 am at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, followed by interment at Oak Grove Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to the Deacon Al Provot Food Distribution Center (Branch Area Food Pantry). www.dutcherfh.com
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